With so many different Christian Denominations on the earth, is one of them right?
Each seems to have various good things to offer, but which has the authority to act in God's name?
In the Bible, we learn of Christ's teachings and He tells us that "there shall be one fold, and one shepherd" (John 10:16). Where is that fold?
Imagine the Church of Christ as a beautiful tree. It was glorious and strong when it was first introduced to Adam and Eve. Adam was a prophet and held God's authority, the Priesthood. As the family of man grew, their differing opinions attempted to make changes to the doctrine. It was Adam's responsibility, as it is for all prophets, to correct and maintain the purity of Christ's doctrine.
Each dissension is like a diseased branch of the tree and the prophet must prune it away. With each dispensation, God has called a prophet to declare His word, guide His people and protect the tree.
The Savior, Jesus Christ, is the master gardener. During His earthly ministry, He preached His gospel in its purity and gave us the perfect example of how to live it. He taught these principles to His Apostles and commanded them to share His message. The tree was alive and well with His Priesthood.
After the death and resurrection of Christ, His Apostles went forth sharing His gospel - but not many years passed before the Apostles were all killed. With their deaths, the Lord's Holy Priesthood was taken from the earth. So began the Great Apostasy.
Our symbolic tree, which represents the Church of Christ, has begun to sicken. Wicked or careless people removed doctrines from the church. The saving ordinances (like baptism) were altered and the authority from God was absent. Without a prophet to prune the tree, more and more branches became infected. Years passed and the tree became almost unrecognizable compared to the Gospel that was taught by Jesus Christ.
Brave men and women began to notice the discrepancies between scriptural writings and the current church practices. They began to protest these actions and demand that the church reform - hence the name, "Protestants". None of these claimed authority from God - but they were trying to reform the church to follow the teaching of Christ - so began the Reformation.
It was as if they were trying to prune the tree and correct the doctrine. But without revelation given through the authority of God, this becomes an impossible task. I admire those valiant reformers who throughout the dark years of Apostasy kept their gaze heavenward. They lived faithful to the knowledge that they had.
In 1820, Joseph Smith Jr. was 14 years old when many different religious groups came to his community. There were countless new branches from the original church and he sought to find God in one of them. Though each group took the Bible as their text, they interpreted it so differently that they disagreed on many doctrines. He gazed upon our metaphorical tree and didn't know which branch to choose.
"If any one of them be right, which is it
and how shall I know it?"
Isn't that the question each of us eventually have to ask? If God really does speak to man and have a church on the earth, which one is it and how shall I know it?
Joseph read from the Bible:
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God."
Joseph did as James directs and decided to ask God. He went to a grove of trees and knelt in prayer. In a glorious vision, God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to the boy Joseph. He was told that all of the religions on the earth had strayed from Christ's original church and that he should join none of them.
Although many good people at that time believed in Christ and tried to understand and teach His gospel, they didn’t have the fullness of truth or the authority to baptize and perform other saving ordinances. Instead of creating a new branch off of the existing church - as was the goal of the Reformation - Christ's church needed to be brought back through a Restoration.
Joseph Smith became the prophet of our dispensation, just like Adam and the other prophets before him. God sent John, the Baptist, to baptize Joseph and restore the authority for that saving ordinance God also sent his original apostles, Peter James and John to restore the authority of the church.
Our beautiful tree, the Church of Jesus Christ, had been planted again by God. The Priesthood is again on the earth, prophets speak today and the heavens are open again.
To learn more about the Christ's restored church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, please visit:
Here is a beautiful testimony of one of Christ's apostles today, Elder L. Tom Perry:
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